Leading the Way Brooklyn’S Boulevard City Giving Cyclists Head Start at Intersections Battle Lines Directions — This Spring
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INSIDE: GET THE RIGHT RESULTS WITH OUR CLASSIFIEDS SECTION Yo u r World — Yo u r News BrooklynPaper.comBrooklynPaper.com • (718718) 260260–2500 • Brooklyn,Brooklyn, NYNY • ©2018©2018 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Sunset Park, Williamsburg & Greenpoint 14 pages • Vol. 41, No. 14 • April 6–12, 2018 • FREE DON’T EAT THE FISH What lies beneath... Signs will warn Gowanus anglers about health hazards of catch By Julianne Cuba Brooklyn Paper There’s something alive in there! They’re schooling fishers! Cleaning our New signs warning anglers about the By Julianne Cuba goes for $10.99 a pound at the Fair- dangers of eating marine life caught in Waterways Brooklyn Paper way supermarket in Red Hook, ac- the fetid Gowanus Canal will soon line The federal officials in charge of cording to its online inventory . But the toxic waterway after members of a officials caution that only men older cleansing the toxic Gowanus Canal an- neighborhood-advisory group asked the The new placards will list about 15 nounced they will install signs warn- than 15 and non-pregnant women older Feds overseeing its cleanup to put up a fish and shellfish, including the Ameri- ing of the health risks that creatures than 50 should eat any hooked in the dozen placards in English and Spanish Gowanus — and no more than once can eel, gizzard shad, striped bass, and of the deep caught in the waterway at prime casting spots. a month. blue crab, that allegedly are found in pose to anglers. And those who think “We ask that such warnings be placed marine life can’t survive in the fetid Brooklyn’s Nautical Purgatory — where Black sea bass in reasonably likely fishing locations other sea creatures including the young channel that has claimed the lives of and at each public-access location where dolphins and whales — where one Local seafood slinger Greenpoint minke whale “Sludgie” and a dolphin Fish and Lobster Co. describes this people can easily make physical contact met their early ends after getting trapped fisher claimed to hook a three-eyed with the canal,” locals in the Gowanus specimen — might be surprised to fish — which it sells for $12.99 a pound in the channel — and warn locals that and is known to shimmy beneath Community Advisory Group wrote in anything caught in its toxic waters could know just how many living things al- a letter to the Environmental Protec- legedly thrive in its murky waters. the canal’s surface — contain chemicals that are dangerous to as “mild-tast- tion Agency bigwig in charge of the eat, particularly for women and chil- Here’s a list of some fish swimming ongoing cleanse. ing.” Men dren, according to drafts obtained by in the canal that locals may also rec- The state’s Departments of Health 15 and File photo by Erin Lefevre the Brooklyn Paper. ognize from restaurant menus or their and Environmental Conservation typ- neighborhood market’s seafood sec- older and The Environmental Protection Agency is installing new signs that warn One warning, for instance, cautions non-preg- ically handle the task of hanging no- tion: tices related to fish consumption along local anglers about the dangers of eating seafood caught in the Gow- that men older than 15 and women older nant women older than 50 can indulge anus Canal, where intrepid locals have been known to fish, canoe — than 50 can safely munch on up to six blue Blue crab in locally caught specimens from the bodies of water. But because the canal filled with noxious sludge, tampons, and swim — despite its rancid reputation. crabs per week, but that ladies younger These crus- Gowanus Canal up to four times a than 50 — especially those bearing child taceans found month, according to officials. poop , and dead cats — as well as with apparently edible creatures of the deep who polluted Brooklyn’s Nautical Pur- And now that the cleanup is un- — and kids younger than 15 should not in Brooklyn’s risk taking a single bite. Nautical Pur- Porgy — is a federal Superfund site , protec- gatory — including the city and utility derway, members of the neighbor- This species — which the Green- tion-agency leaders can fast-track the company National Grid — must foot the hood group demanded signs in both But the draft signs curiously do not gatory — address the health risks of consuming which men point restaurant and market hawks production of the advisories, according bill for the warnings. languages featuring universally un- for more than $20 per fish — is also to the scrub’s steward. “The state prepared a format, it is the derstood graphics in order to inform three-eyed fish such as the specimen over 15-years-old and non-preg- one angler claimed to hook in the Gow- nant women over 50 can eat up to among the chan- “It is a Superfund site, so the EPA has expert on the health issues — so once more people of potential fishing haz- nel’s marine life jurisdiction to produce signs, which is an we get the CAG’s input then I will ask ards after the city plastered less specific anus Canal in 2015. six times per week, according to En- And elsewhere on Brooklyn’s Nau- vironmental Protection Agency and and, similar easier process than going through state the parties responsible for the contam- warnings near the waterway’s sewer tical Purgatory, the slow-going dredg- New York State officials — also fea- to the black- agencies,” said Christos Tsiamis. ination,” he said. outfalls — which release excess storm ture as ingredients in dishes such as sea bass, can Federal and state officials worked Line casters who dare drop hooks into water and sewage into the canal dur- ing-and-capping pilot program that the jumbo lump crab cakes served by make an appro- together to create a draft placard that the canal’s murky abyss must first obtain ing heavy rainfall — and by the pop- got stuck in the mud in January due Kings County’s eponymous seafood priate meal for non- is now being reviewed by the neigh- a $25 permit from the state and sign up ular fishing spot at the nearby Colum- to equipment-related setbacks kicked shack, Brooklyn Crab . pregnant women 50 and older and borhood group, according to Tsiamis, with its recreational-marine-fishing reg- bia Street pier in Red Hook. off on March 22, according to Tsiamis, men over 15-years-old no more than who discussed the request at a March istry if they are 16 or older, but aspiring “As dredging begins, there’s a strong who said he expects the process of re- Striped bass four times a month if reeled in from 27 meeting with the locals and said it anglers 15-years-old or younger can fish sense that there should be enough so moving chemical-filled sediment from The fish (top) known by its cross- the canal, according to federal and is ultimately up to his agency and the for free without registering, according that people are aware,” said Commu- a portion of the canal’s floor before cov- body stripes that run from gills to tail state leaders. state to decide how many signs go up to information from the Environmen- nity Advisory Group member Marlene ering it with a protective layer to wrap and where to hang them, and that those tal Conservation Department. Donnelly. sometime in June. MEAN Streets Leading the way Brooklyn’s boulevard City giving cyclists head start at intersections battle lines directions — this spring. By Julianne Cuba And a local councilman known Brooklyn Paper PLUS: POLICE PARKING POSES PROBLEM to cruise streets on his own two- And they’re off! wheeler — whose district includes Cyclists can now start pedaling FOR FOURTH AVENUE BIKE LANE many of the Fourth Avenue inter- through some Kings County in- SEE PAGE 6 sections where cyclists can start tersections 10 seconds before the pedaling before motorists pump the gas — cheered the launch of drivers next to them, city transit before drivers head out.” lowing people to move before ve- the program as the start of a pro- leaders announced last week at one The Department of Transporta- hicle traffic starts driving in the cess that he hopes will end with of those junctures in Boerum Hill. tion is installing “cyclists use pe- same direction. The head start, which already ex- leading-pedestrian intervals for destrian signal” signs at 19 Kings The Brooklyn signs giving pedal pushers at crossings city- ists for pedestrians at more than County intersections — includ- cyclists that same advantage are 2,000 crosswalks across the five wide. ing at Atlantic Avenue and Smith among a total of 50 being rolled “As an avid bike rider, I under- boroughs, makes it safer for bike Photo by Caroline Ourso riders because it allows motor- Street and along Fourth Avenue out at junctures across the city as stand the dangers of bicycling in at Dean, 18th, 19th, 21st, 29th, part of a seven-month pilot program Transit gurus stood before the sign stating “cyclists use pedestrian signal” after they in- ists to see them before they put stalled it in Boerum Hill. New York City, especially at inter- pedal to metal, according to a lo- 30th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 40th, announced on March 27, during sections,” said Councilman Carlos cal civic guru. 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 46th, 59th, 62nd, which Transportation Department Menchaca (D–Sunset Park), who in “It allows someone on a bike to and 63rd streets — where the head bigwigs will collect data they will next steps,” said Sean Quinn.